


Interlude for Kisses

by Gemma_Inkyboots



Series: Alt-Vos Saga [2]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Anxiety, Booby-trapped valves, Cultural Differences, Cultural exchange, Enthusiastic Consent, Found Family, Kisses, M/M, Oral Sex, Orgy, Robot Feels, Robot Sex, accidentally kneeing someone in the head while 'facing, protective friends, sorry Sideswipe, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-20 10:07:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6001947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gemma_Inkyboots/pseuds/Gemma_Inkyboots
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Sideswipe expands on his kissing lesson, and Nightlight  - after straightening out a few reservations - is a very curious student. And accidentally kicks Sideswipe in the head, but it all works out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Interlude for Kisses

**Author's Note:**

  * For [raisedbymoogles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/raisedbymoogles/gifts).



> Okay, so here we have the missing scene from Chapter 8 of _The Crown of Cybertron._ In this there is discussion of sticky interfacing, mention of about four different ways for Cybertronians to make with the clang-clang, oral, talking frankly about who's doing what and when, and Sideswipe kind of messing up and poking Night somewhere sensitive before he was physically-speaking ready for it, and then promptly doing the equivalent of falling off the berth. Ratchet offers to check Night over and he's swiftly mortified, so if any of that sounds like it might be a squick, please be warned!
> 
> Also booby-trapped valves, because I think that kind of thing is cool.

_Despite the strangeness of it all, Nightlight’s smile brightened - the ever-shifting fields around him seemed comforting now instead of judgemental in their arousal, the soft sliding sounds of metal against metal understandable, a smooth background noise he could almost ignore. Ratchet hummed throatily behind him, Dion sighing in counterpoint as they moved together; Orion’s engine growled as Ironhide snickered at something, Ariel’s voice a low murmur interspersed with the quiet tic-tic-shush of lips brushing audials as she shifted around between the two of them. They were undoubtedly keeping tabs on him and Sideswipe, but it felt_ safe _knowing that - Safeguard was here, silent and unobtrusive, eir field meshing quietly with the others’ as a harmonious counterpoint to the rising warmth. Familiarity, unhurried comfort, mouths and fields and frames merging with the ease of feeling_ safe.

It felt both like nothing Nightlight had experienced before, and like sinking into a pile of his family to recharge at the end of a long day.

“Maybe I still need a little more practise,” he suggested with shy daring, and his spark leaped at Sideswipe’s eager grin.

“I am so far from complaining,” the younger mech told him, and Nightlight _laughed_ \- his field tickled with fading nerves and a growing, curious interest, and Sideswipe didn’t look too displeased at what he must have been picking up. He shifted and knelt up in Nightlight’s lap, and spending most of his time with sparklings had Nightlight automatically reaching to steady him; his hands rested on Sideswipe’s hips, and the Iaconian’s grin turned ever so slightly wicked.

“Such a gentlemech,” he crooned, then chuckled as Nightlight ducked his head. “Aww, no, don’t hide. Seriously, it’s nice having people be all thoughtful like that. Me and Sunny didn’t get that too much when we were still new at this, people thinking ‘ooh, big scary fighters’ and all, so it’s - y’know, sweet.”

“I suppose sweet isn’t so bad,” Nightlight admitted a little reluctantly, and tipped his face up for another lingering kiss. This time Sideswipe’s lips moved against his, soft metal drawing on his lower lip, and Nightlight blinked at him a little dazedly when their mouths parted. 

“Is that something you like?” he asked, and Sideswipe gave him a slightly sheepish grin of his own.

“Yeah. I really, really like kissing, so it’s kinda nice finding somebody to play with where that’s like the main event. Not that it has to be if you don’t want!”

Nightlight couldn’t help giving him a warm smile. “I think - I might not mind seeing how things go,” he allowed, reaching to brush against Safeguard’s steady field to check in with eir. “Is- Do partners normally talk this sort of thing over before it goes anywhere in particular, here, or was that a Praxian custom?”

Sideswipe sat back a little, strong thighs bracketing Nightlight’s, rubbing his helm as he frowned. “Eh - it kinda depends. Orion’s really big on talking things over, just to start and if things change. He’s _really_ good at not making it awkward, though, just slipping it in and stuff. It’s pretty hot,” he added, and Nightlight didn’t miss the pleased ripple of Orion’s field in the background. “Probably wouldn’t hurt to ask what you really don’t want, though? Just kissing’s totally fine if that’s all you wanna do, promise.”

Night nodded, hands sliding down a little from Sideswipe’s hips to cradle the angles of his thighs. “I don’t really know,” he admitted, his voice low and heating a little at the words, pretending interest in where his hands had landed instead of Sideswipe’s face. “It - it wasn’t all that easy to find a casual partner when it took so long for me to warm up to people. I’ve not done something like this before.”

The pause after that was long enough for some of the warm intrigue to fade, a worried chill creeping under his plating. He glanced up from smoothing out Sideswipe’s rather slapdash wax job with his thumbs and blinked at the other mech’s changed expression. “Okay,” the younger mech said, an authority and conviction in his voice that hadn’t been there before. “In that case we’re definitely doing rules, ‘cause whatever we wind up doing I’m gonna make sure you have fun.”

Heat flickered over Nightlight’s plating and he ducked his helm again. “...okay,” he whispered after only a moment of being completely overwhelmed. If he was going to ‘face a near-total stranger for the first time in his functioning, a sweet, determined mech with firm ideas of treating his partner properly was- well, so far outside of his expectations that he went along with the gentle, wear-roughened hand lifting his chin without a second thought.

“Hey,” Sideswipe whispered, and nuzzled Nightlight’s cheek with inexperienced care. “Whatever you like, I promise. It’s no fun if it’s not good for both of us, right? No lie, this is kind of a big deal as far as I’m concerned.” He ducked his head, caught Nightlight’s optics and gave him a devastatingly earnest, hopeful smile. “Actually - I like being trusted about as much as I like kissing, just so you know.”

Nightlight smiled back at him, optics slightly too bright and very glad that they were snuggled together on the floor where he didn’t have to worry about controlling his thrusters. The comforting back-and-forth of the other fields in the room felt good, easy and equal, and Sideswipe’s little gestures only reinforced the feeling of being _heard_ without being found wanting. “I do trust you,” he whispered back, and felt the starlight of Sideswipe’s smile warm against his plating. “...no spark play. I don’t really like it, and I’m not ready for Dash to have a sibling just yet.”

“Wow. You can do that? ...okay, no problem. Still, though, wow.” Sideswipe sat back a little, still close enough to nuzzle their noses together, and Nightlight smiled as broad, scuffed hands rested carefully on his shoulders. “I don’t think spark play’s a great idea with only one twin here anyway, but Ratch’s the one to ask about that and he’s busy. I’m thinking plugs and ports might be a bit too big of a jump too, no offence.” Nightlight glanced sidelong up at Ratchet and Dion in the chair beside them, and though his plating flared with hot nerves he didn’t immediately jerk his gaze away. There was comfort here, and safety, and it was growing increasingly easier to remember that without telling himself over and over again.

“None taken,” he said, quiet but more decisive. “I would have said the same thing. ...tactile might be my preference either way, actually. I’d - I’d like to take my time touching you, if that’s all right.”

“...wow. Again. Uh, definitely no problems there. You can just keep right on doing that, actually.” Sideswipe shifted a little, settling his aft in Nightlight’s lap and spreading his thighs a little wider; Night smiled and stroked up and down Sideswipe’s legs, warming inside and all through his frame at Sideswipe’s contented sigh.

“I’d like that too,” he murmured, and suited action to words as, for once, he tried letting his frame tell him what he wanted. Sideswipe’s finish was the kind of patchy that implied an enthusiasm to get out of the washrack and get moving, glossy and scuffed by turns, and it was oddly soothing to find as many strokable patches as he could. “Is there anything that _you_ don’t like?” he murmured, emboldened by a flush of unfamiliar, tingling pride as Sideswipe wriggled in his lap. “I’m not much of a spike or cord mech, either. I prefer my valve.”

Sideswipe blinked, cocking his head, and Nightlight wondered in a brief flash of panic if this time _he_ was the one breaching diplomatic etiquette. “Uh - what?”

“Oh, um - I’m sorry, I thought- It’s all right if you don’t want to do that either, I didn’t mean to assume...”

“Woah, no, I mean - spike and valve, what? You’ve got one?” Sideswipe’s confusion was changing rapidly to intrigued delight, and Nightlight wasn’t at all sure what he’d said to provoke it.

“Well - yes? I know a lot of mechs have either-or...”

“Pretty much nobody I know has _either_ unless they’re, like, really old-” 

“Watch it, brat,” Ironhide growled from the very crowded chaise, and the abrupt discord of an unexpected voice made Nightlight hide his face against Sideswipe’s belly in an entirely instinctive, panicked need to hide.

“Awww, ‘Hide, now look what you did,” Sideswipe protested, and his broad hands slid from Nightlight’s shoulders to cradle the back of Nightlight’s helm protectively. “It’s okay, promise, he’s all growl and no boost.”

Drawing in a slow vent (that tasted of exhaust and Sideswipe’s polish, and Nightlight was briefly distracted by the sudden, unnatural urge to _lick_ the mech) Nightlight eased his clamped-tight grip on Sideswipe’s thighs to peek over at Ironhide. The chagrined expression on the craggy guard’s face was a shock, as was the very real apology and regret in his field.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled, all too aware of how absurd he must look hiding half underneath the younger guard, but Ironhide was already shaking his head.

“Naw, I shouldna butted in,” he said matter-of-factly. “You ignore me, ain’t none of my business ‘til Sides there pays for that ‘old’ thing on th’trainin’ ground.” Sideswipe laughed aloud and pretended to cower, curling around Nightlight away from Ironhide’s sudden wicked grin, and Nightlight blinked as he automatically scrunched down into the smaller space Sideswipe’s body offered him. An audible chuckling vibration ran through his shelter, and Nightlight nestled close without thinking.

“Y’know,” Sideswipe said conversationally, his voice rumbling slightly in the cave of his body. “You could totally grab my aft like that and I wouldn’t mind.”

Nightlight let out a startled snort of laughter and, in a burst of sudden daring, slid his hands up Sideswipe’s thighs and over his hips. “Well, you do have a very nice aft,” he offered, and Sideswipe’s systems hitched.

“Yeah, so I hear,” he said, and Nightlight both wondered and delighted at the breathless tone to his voice. Both hands pushed up Sideswipe’s hips and over his aft and the groundmech let out a soft little moan - Nightlight’s fans spun on with an equally quiet hum, and it took a moment before he realised as much.

In the brief moment of confusion before he could try to hide it or shut them off, Sideswipe _undulated_ in his lap and Nightlight’s cheek brushed thoracic and pelvic plating in one smooth stroke, before Sideswipe arched, hands dropping back to Nightlight’s shoulders, aft pushing up into his hands, and gave him a bright-opticed grin.

“So,” he breathed, and Nightlight forgot all about shutting off his fans. “Do I get to see your valve?”

“Uh.” It took a moment for the words to register, strong thighs close around Nightlight’s hips and a very nice aft filling his hands, and Sideswipe seemed to realise the effect he was having; his demon’s grin broadened and he affected an air of innocence, leaning in a little more as Nightlight’s optics widened. The fact that it also lifted Sideswipe’s aft a little higher in the air most certainly didn’t hurt. 

“Only I was thinking - you know how much I like kissing.” He leaned in the rest of the way and Night tipped his head back to meet Sideswipe’s mouth, optics offlining only to blink back on in surprise when they didn’t connect. Sideswipe grinned at him, all sweetness and eager systems. “I was kind of hoping you might let me try kissing you there.”

Nightlight gaped, and he wasn’t at all sure that his hands didn’t tighten on Sideswipe’s aft a little too tightly. “Uh. I. ...you can do that?”

Sideswipe chuckled, and this time when he leaned in Nightlight got his kiss - sweet and slow and full of promise. “Oh, you’d be amazed what you can kiss if you put your mind to it,” Sideswipe assured him when they broke apart, and Nightlight found himself nodding without his higher processing functions getting involved _at all._ It was heady, more intoxicating than any high grade, and warmed him down to his core.

_I want more. Even if it’s only for tonight. But..._

“Should- um.” He glanced past Sideswipe’s broad shoulder - Orion outwardly distracted with his two partners sharing kisses and plugs, Ratchet and Dion much closer - and tried to imagine himself opening his panel in front of all of them. Night cringed.

“Don’t have to in company if you don’t want to,” Sideswipe was quick to reassure him, and Nightlight stretched up to nuzzle him in a rush of wordless gratitude. 

“It - it’s not the _company._ Present company, I mean. Just- the being _in_ company,” he said a little helplessly, and Sideswipe’s brow scrunched as he puzzled that one through.

“So - being watched?” he hazarded, and Nightlight’s shrinking into himself was almost as good as verbal confirmation. “Okay, no problem. You want to get up and go, or scoot around some so we’re out of sight?”

Nightlight blinked up at him, optics widening at the simple acceptance, waiting for the drop. When the pause had stretched for a beat and Sideswipe’s easy readiness began shading into worry, Nightlight let out a choked sound and threw his arms around Sideswipe’s waist to hug him close. 

“You _dear_ mech,” he said thickly, and Sideswipe’s arms settled around his shoulders as a comforting weight and shield.

The other mechs in the room only murmured to each other, focussed firmly on their own partners, but the loving back-and-forth of their fields deepened in a way that Nightlight had never known until meeting his family - safe, welcoming, without the weight of pressure and expectation. He didn’t want to leave it.

 _Well...families don’t_ have _to stop growing, do they?_ Thank Solus Sideswipe was both thoughtful and shrewd enough to have given him options before Night could fall into a tailspin. It made it easier to try and interpret what _he_ wanted in an almost entirely unfamiliar arena.

Nightlight shifted slightly and Sideswipe’s arms loosened, carefully casual and enough for him to have pulled away if he’d wanted to. _Thank Solus and her spires for Sideswipe,_ Night thought dreamily. _Thank Sideswipe for making wanting so easy._ He reset his vocaliser, clearing it of an alarming amount of static.

“If you don’t mind moving a little,” he started, and couldn’t keep from answering Sideswipe’s delighted smile if he’d tried.

“No problem. Seriously, _no_ problem, hang on.”

 _To what?_ Nightlight blinked, but Sideswipe was already rocking up and standing - there were other chairs in the room, units that had clearly seen much wear and use in their lifespan, and Sideswipe hauled one around side-on to the comfortable gathering as Nightlight folded his legs under himself out of the way. The long, low moan from Dion and the wavering rush of pleasure through the room’s intermingling fields made him shiver, but while he didn’t turn to look he also didn’t try to shrink away. Ratchet murmured to his smaller partner and Orion crooned softly, all interconnected, and Nightlight _wanted_ with an ache that had nothing to do with his ‘facing equipment.

...well. Maybe not quite _nothing._

Sideswipe turned back to him with a showy little bow, and Nightlight’s smile broke free again. “Your palace awaits,” he declared grandly, and it was so over-the-top that Night couldn’t help giggling instead of twitching away. The chair was apparently a multi-frame recliner that Sideswipe had bullied into extending as far as it would go, and the younger mech waved Night into twisting around and leaning back along the leg support. It was surprisingly comfortable, broad enough to brace his wings comfortably and Nightlight sighed and snuggled back into it, stretching his legs out before looking back up.

“How’s that?” Sideswipe asked, helm cocked to one side; the rest of the gathering could still watch Nightlight’s face even if they couldn’t see his equipment, and that made his plating heat even as the ebb and flow of their fields reassured him.

“It’s perfect,” Nightlight promised, and Sideswipe’s grin did all sorts of interesting things to his own field.

“You sure?” At Night’s nod, he dropped down into a crouch and inched forward on the tips of his fingers, that glittering grin turning just a little wicked and teasing. “In that case, how about I...” 

Prowling closer, hips swaying back and forth, Sideswipe crept between Nightlight’s legs like a hunting cybercat, and Night’s optics widened even as one knee crooked to let Sideswipe further in-

“...kiss you hello?” the other mech finished, in nothing short of a purr. His vocaliser abruptly and entirely out of commission Nightlight could only nod, optics round and bright, and Sideswipe’s smile lit up his vision to the exclusion of all else. His shoulders were broad enough that he had to tilt and tuck one under Night’s bent knee, and a sudden hot rush of air from Nightlight’s vents made white plating rattle. Sideswipe quirked an optic ridge up at him, waiting for permission to move or confirmation that Night was still all right, and that more than anything else triggered his panel’s release. He scrambled for something to say, but at Sideswipe’s appreciative, intrigued _hum_ Night’s leg tightened around the other mech’s shoulder in a wordless plea.

“Woah,” Sideswipe breathed out softly, and glanced up at Night’s face again. “Can I touch?”

He kept _asking,_ and strange as it was, it only made the slow-burn of arousal creeping through Night’s lines spread faster. “Of course,” he managed, then his head thunked back against the recliner as a scuffed, impossibly gentle fingertip traced along one of the ruffles framing his valve.

“You’re so soft.” Nightlight trembled at something very like amazement and a little like awe in Sideswipe’s murmured words; “How does - wow.” A brush of fingertips along the tiny platelets, then what must have been the flat of Sideswipe’s thumb circling over his recessed cord - the cover itself wasn’t sensitive, but Night still shivered at the sheer care Sideswipe was taking. _Not even Serif touched me like this._

Sideswipe circled around the iris protecting his cord again and Night shifted his hips restlessly, trying not to scratch his thruster down Sideswipe’s back. The curious touch vanished, and Night swallowed back a complicated noise before it could escape.

“Not good?” Sideswipe was asking, and Nightlight had to reboot his vocaliser twice before he could reply clearly.

“Not - not _bad_ , but I - I don’t really get anything from my cord. Maybe if I modded it into a spike I could, but it’s not all that interesting by comparison. ...And the cover itself doesn’t have any sensors at all.”

“Right, got it. Still kind of new at this, heh. ...just gonna say, though - _wow._ Can you feel this?”

Nightlight bit his lip and fluffed his plating at the frank admiration in Sideswipe’s voice, and a moment later his fans skipped two settings higher as Sideswipe’s curled fingers ran gently through the dampening folds of his valve mesh. “Nnh- _hnh,_ ” he managed, then his thighs clamped around Sideswipe’s shoulders as the younger mech shifted from feather-light strokes to rubbing tiny, deep circles into the outer protective layer.

“This is so awesome,” he murmured, and Nightlight’s fans whined. “It’s so soft and it crinkles up like- Are you actually just made of steelsilk inside? ‘Cause that’s how it feels. All ruffled and rumpling up...” He actually smoothed his thumb along the underside of the mesh fold he was petting as though Nightlight were a display made of the smoothest silkware, and Night briefly wondered if it were possible to overload from sheer admiration alone. If it wasn’t, Sideswipe was making a valiant attempt.

“Y’know, I was kind of expecting, like, a port or a slot or something. This is - wow. It’s all texture and _soft,_ I can’t get over that. Where do you even hide the sensors? If I just combed my fingers through all the folds, could I find them? Roll them between my fingers?”

Nightlight scrabbled at the seat of the recliner behind his head and dragged a battered steelinen cushion down to cover his face, and felt Sideswipe’s chuckle as puffs of warm air against his array.

“Awwww, c’mon, don’t hide. You’re too pretty to hide.”

“You should be illegal,” Night choked out, and Sideswipe burst into peals of laughter.

“That’s what they all say,” he grinned, and Nightlight peered over the top of the cushion at him only to receive a charming smile. “Seriously, this is totally amazing. Sunny’s gonna be so jealous; he’d wanna paint you.”

“I’m not sure whether I’m flattered or imagining this entire cycle,” Night replied faintly, and Sideswipe positively lit up.

“Shows I’m doing something right, I guess! Seriously, though, is this okay? I’d be totally happy just petting you for the rest of the cycle, but there’s more than this, right? ...do you, I dunno, _unfurl_ or something? You look like a mercury twist and I bet you’ll taste just as good.”

The cushion did an excellent job of hiding Nightlight’s blushes, but it did nothing to hide the rise in his core temperature. _How_ was Sideswipe heating him up so quickly?

“The - the folds are there to help...lubricate things,” he managed, muffled behind the cushion; Sideswipe shifted a little as he listened, graciously withdrawing to draw little circles over the inside of Nightlight’s thigh. “That’s not all there is of my valve. I don’t know if it’s a Vosian adaptation, but when- things warm up, they’re like - like microfibre cloth, to spread it around. ...I’m not good at this.”

“Hey, it’s okay.” One broad hand gently squeezed his knee, then Sideswipe settled back down between Night’s legs; Night relented to his pounding spark and peered over the top of the cushion at him again. “Think I get the gist. So, if I wanted to go hunting your valve, I guess I’d start...” A single finger stroked slowly up and up from the beginning of the ruffled layers, searching, and Nightlight squeaked into the cushion as the blunt pressure found the dip into his valve entrance and pressed in close. “Here, huh?”

Compliments and flattery aside, there just wasn’t enough lubricant soaking through his valve folds yet for that to feel anything but uncomfortable, and Nightlight flinched back - his valve rim clamped down in an instinctive protest, and Sideswipe yelped in shock as whisper-thin blades narrowly avoided slicing into the tip of his finger. “The _frag!_ ”

“I’m sorry!” Night blurted, his legs jerking up against his body to protect both his valve and Sideswipe’s digits; his knee caught Sideswipe a glancing blow to the audial, Sideswipe squawked and curled up as he lost his balance and tipped over sideways, and their tangled knot of pain-panic-confusion lanced through the comfortable haze of fields like a signal flare going off.

Safeguard was beside them in an instant, Ratchet only a moment later, Dion tumbling into the seat of the chair his partner had occupied only a click before. Nightlight clung to his guard’s arm, utterly mortified, but didn’t miss the way eir flare of fierce protectiveness turned against Sideswipe as Ratchet lifted the younger mech out of the tangle they’d made of themselves.

“What happened?” Safeguard asked before Ratchet could, a crisp edge to eir voice; Night ducked his helm, heat bursting under his plating. _This,_ this _is why you don’t do things like frag different frame types!_ he lamented in a voice that sounded like Starscream’s sneer and his own reproach mingled together, but before he could apologise again Sideswipe’s voice startled him into stillness.

“My fault,” the younger mech groaned, rubbing ruefully at the audial Nightlight had clipped. “Sorry. Too fast, right?”

“Um.” Night blinked, his death-grip on Safeguard’s arm easing not one jot. “Pardon?”

Sideswipe made an eloquent gesture, and Night positively melted with embarrassed queasiness he didn’t want to look too closely at. Sideswipe’s fingers gleamed with faint traces of Nightlight’s lubricants. “I guess it’d hurt if some aft went grabbing for glory without enough lube, huh?” His grin was self-depreciating and apologetic, not mocking Nightlight at all no matter how hard Night scrutinised his face or field. Safeguard’s field lost a little of eir tension, then both Vosians startled when Ratchet huffed and lightly cuffed Sideswipe’s other audial.

“I know full well Orion _and_ Megatron taught you better than that,” he scolded. “If they didn’t, maybe I ought to!”

“Ack! Sorry, sorry!” Sideswipe mock-cowered under Ratchet’s Look, then turned back to Night with a far more genuine expression of remorse making his shoulders droop, stained fingers curling uncertainly into the crook of his elbow. “...I really am sorry. I - I get it if you want to stop.”

Night hesitated, then Safeguard’s arms tightened slightly around him and eir field sank gentle reassurance into his own, bolstering his confidence in whatever decision he chose to make. Orion’s optics glinted from across the room, quiet and watchful, and Nightlight drew a slow invent in to hold the cool air for a moment before releasing it.

“I- I would like to keep going,” he said quietly, squeezing Safeguard’s gauntlet with a wash of grateful appreciation through his field. “If you still want to, I mean. I’m sorry about- that.”

Sideswipe perked up so quickly and so visibly that Ratchet snorted his amusement out loud, the medic shaking his head before turning to Nightlight. Night - rather wanted to go back to clinging to Safeguard then, and felt the brief flicker of fond amusement in his bodyguard’s field at the notion, but Ratchet only shifted his weight from being on both knees to one.

“Anything hurt that shouldn’t?” he asked, professional optics darting over Nightlight with a degree of distance that was more reassuring than otherwise. “Any aches or stinging?”

Humiliation roared back to life under Night’s plating, but he managed to wordlessly shake his head. Sideswipe watched with unhappy optics, but Ratchet only nodded and pushed himself back up to his pedes. “Good. Anything does start to hurt, you comm me - I mean it.” 

The meaningful look Ratchet gave him made Nightlight want to bristle a little on Sideswipe’s behalf, but - well - he could understand why Ratchet said it, after his performance so far. 

“Thank you,” he said instead, and Ratchet gave him a brief flicker of a grin before going back to Dion and his comfortable chair. The room was very quiet for a moment, then Ironhide rumbled his engine determinedly and leaned in to kiss Ariel, and the brief yawning awkwardness was past. ...well, at least as far as the room at large went. Safeguard squeezed Nightlight gently close and helped him back upright, retreating back to eir post at the door, leaving Night and Sideswipe staring at each other on the floor like sparklings on an awkward play-date.

“So,” Sideswipe blurted, and Night startled guiltily. “So - what even _was_ that? Have you seriously got blades _there?_ ”

Night felt his plating tighten and his shoulders crept higher. “...oh. Well - yes. I’m so sorry, it’s archaic and a subconscious reaction to anything that - that hurts, I never meant to hurt you-”

“That is _so hardcore,_ ” Sideswipe breathed, and the amazed light in his optics completely took Nightlight aback. “ _Wow._ ...can I still lick you an overload or two? I mean, if that’s okay and you still want me to, you don’t have to, only - _hot._ Please?”

It took a moment for Nightlight to remember how words worked, and when he did they weren’t particularly coherent. “You- Really?” At Sideswipe’s enthusiastic nod, Night flopped back against the foot of the recliner not knowing whether he was on his aft or his ailerons. “...I swear to Solus and all the spires, I’ve never met a mech like you in my life.”

Sideswipe grinned, wriggling eagerly where he sat. “Lucky me. So - is that maybe a yes?”

Expectations thrown into the air like so much confetti, Nightlight let his head fall back against the recliner’s padding and sighed his remaining tension out through his vents. “I liked what you were doing before,” he admitted, and the words didn’t spike his anxiety as much as he’d once thought they would. It helped that he wasn’t watching Sideswipe’s face, too. “I- If you want to try- anything, with my valve, I’d need more time to warm up. I can’t - I can’t switch that on and off, I have to - um. Let it lubricate on its own.”

Sideswipe’s palm slid over his pede, wrapping a gentle caress around his ankle; Night shivered.

“That sounds like the best kind of challenge to me,” his partner murmured, and shifted back between Nightlight’s legs. This time he settled flat on his front, chin propped on one hand in seeming comfort, but after a moment’s hesitance Night brushed a knee against Sideswipe’s side and settled the length of his thruster over Sideswipe’s shoulder as he had before. The brilliant smile he received in return was blinding; _I like being trusted about as much as I like kissing_ murmured again in his memory, and Night gave his partner a small, hopeful smile back.

“So,” Sideswipe murmured, his optics already back to Nightlight’s open panel. “I never actually got it into gear and gave you that kiss, did I.”

It took another round of clearing the static from his vocaliser before Night could manage an affirmative, and Sideswipe flickered a grin up the length of Night’s body before tilting his helm and leaning in. His mouth was impossibly gentle, lips parting along the length of a fold and drawing it in for a slow, suckling kiss, and Night’s legs began to shake as his vents kicked on back on. Then Sideswipe released that fold with a parting slide of glossa before moving on to the next, and the next, and Night lost any hold on his shame or the sense of anything but his partner’s gentle, impossibly thorough mouth. Sideswipe lavished attention on every single ruffle and fold protecting Night’s valve, and all Nightlight could do was squirm against the recliner’s rest, muffling whimpers against his hands. 

Then Sideswipe’s glossa began delicately slipping between folds to chase after the seep of slickness such gentle, ruthless adoration produced, and Nightlight only realised that his smooth crumples of mesh were swollen and dripping with lubricant when Sideswipe’s maddening lapping stopped, then lips and the flat of Sideswipe’s glossa pressed against Night’s soaking, twitching mesh and he _sucked_.

//You taste amazing,// he commed, and Nightlight’s legs clamped around Sideswipe’ shoulders as he overloaded hard enough for his vision to white out.

Everything was rather hazy for a while after that. Night blinked dreamily up at the ceiling, wondering why it seemed a little closer than it had before, before managing to lift his head; Sideswipe was leaning with his arms crossed over Nightlight’s pelvic cradle, giving him a starry-opticed, wet smile.

“That good, huh?” he grinned, and Night blinked again before realising that his antigravs had engaged and they were both floating gently, a few inches up from the floor. His field crackled with all the embarrassment he could muster - not a lot, and not for long. He felt far too good, sleepy and his limbs heavy; words seemed far too difficult to manage, so instead he sent a warm fuzz of contentment and lingering, tingly charge to Sideswipe in return.

Sideswipe drew in a quick invent, shaking his head dizzily, and Night came to the belated realisation that at least some of that nice, tickly charge was coming from Sideswipe leaning against him and snugged up between his thighs. ...he had a dripping smile of lubricant around his mouth and dotting the tip of his nose, and a giggle bubbled up without Night checking it.

“Wow,” Sideswipe managed, the corner of his mouth jumping and he was so _adorable_ Night could hardly stand it. “That is way too cute.”

Night hummed and held out his arms, and they both managed to re-settle back on the floor with a minimum of fuss. Sideswipe’s hand found its way back to Night’s array, but before he had to say anything Sideswipe was cradling the tender, full swells rather than exploring again, and both the support and the wonderfully warm contact were just what he needed. Night nuzzled into Sideswipe’s shoulder, cheek against the other mech’s glossy plating, and gave in to the temptation to nibble at Sideswipe’s neck a little. Lips and no denta, but it still made Sideswipe shake in his arms and the charge in his field spike, and a shock of amazed wonder ran through Night’s frame. _I did that._

“That was wonderful,” he murmured, and thrilled at the reaction that rose in Sideswipe’s field - surprise, pride and delight in almost equal measure. “ _You_ were wonderful. I don’t think anyone’s ever been so - so considerate with me before, or- Thank you.”

Sideswipe’s fingers curled ever so slightly against him, and Night shifted against the recliner at the slick sensitivity - Sideswipe’s hand must be absolutely soaked through with lubricant, he thought with a sudden flicker of doubt. It seemed to go unnoticed though, Sideswipe clearing his vocaliser with a cough of static.

“You’re, uh. You’re way more than welcome, seriously. That - wow. ...so, ah - do you need some kind of reset time, or...?”

He trailed off hopefully, and Nightlight leaned back just far enough to see the other mech’s face without losing too much contact. “Are you asking if I’d like more?”

Sideswipe grinned at him, optics bright and just shy of wiggling. “Yeah. Y’know, if you’d like to.”

Nightlight smiled back at him, warm and content and with just a niggling little ache of curiousity he wouldn’t mind...exploring. “If it’s with you, I wouldn’t mind at all.”

Sideswipe’s smile could have powered Iacon single-handedly, and as his fingers curled through sensitive, soaking mesh Nightlight arched up into an appreciative kiss.

*

“He seemed nice,” Safeguard said, eir tone studiedly neutral.

Given that Nightlight was having trouble staying upright, his legs wobbling all over the place and his entire pelvic cradle still throbbing, he supposed ei had the right of it. “He was very sweet,” Night managed, his glossa slow and stumbling, tired despite the goodnight cube. And the lingering goodnight kisses. And... “We just had a few - cultural miscommunications to work through.”

Safeguard hummed softly, and guided eir Grace back to the diplomatic quarters and the washracks there. 

It would be a while before Nightlight’s interface shut down after the workout he’d had, and it wouldn’t do for nosy Iaconian diplomats to catch one of Safeguard’s charges with lubricant-swollen ruffles and smeary kisses smudging his thighs. A helpful towel could only do so much, however well-meaning it had been, and Night’s valve rippled again thinking about Sideswipe’s attempts to help him clean up. And how enthusiastic he’d been when Night had been embarrassed at his frame’s core settings, and how intrigued he was when Nightlight had stammered out that it wouldn’t shut off for a while since the ruffles and folds of a valve were supposed to make midair ‘facing easier...

Night’s field tingled in a blush, and he hurried his steps a little faster towards the washracks.


End file.
